New Places and New Experiences

This week Clover continued with swimming lessons, practiced standing up, read lots of books,  traveled to another state, slept in a heavenly crib, met some more relation, danced (and slept) on a rooftop, went to brunch and got to sit in a big girl high chair, and danced in her car seat on the way back home from Atlanta.

Clover is really enjoying going to her lessons.  When she sees the pool, she almost bounces out of my arms.  She kicks and moves so hard in the water.  She is used to going under now and getting more comfortable on her back, but I'm not ready to let go of her yet.  She is so tired after the lessons, that one day she took a 4 hour nap and another day, she went for a late nap and then slept all night.

Clover is also enjoying reading books to herself.  It sounds like she is reading to someone like we read to her.  She also points at the pictures and if she knows what it is, she will say the word and gets excited.  She did that with "banana" and "duck".  For the words that she can't say yet, she is trying really hard to get it.  I can see her concentrating, thinking about how to make it happen.  Johnny was showing her pictures this weekend and when he pointed at my mom, she said, "gangy".  That's a new one.

This weekend, we drove to Atlanta for the wedding reception of my cousin Justin and his new wife Triona.  This was our first overnight trip with Clover.  We stayed in a Westin hotel and they provided us with a crib they call "heavenly crib".  It is a small crib with a comfy mattress.  Clover seemed to like laying in it.  Clover has been sleeping alone in her room since she was 3 weeks old, so it was nice to have her next to me for a change.

with Grandma and Grandpa King

We went to the reception on Saturday night.  It was on the roof of a loft building downtown.  The view was beautiful and they had a Beatles tribute band called The Buggs.  Clover may have recognized some of the songs, because we had been listening to Paul McCartney that morning before we left Decatur.  She moved her legs to the music and watched the band.  We were taking lots of pictures of her and I think she may have gotten a little tired of the pictures, but she loved sitting with Grandma King and watching the people.  Clover napped some during the party.  The party was moved inside later when it was time to cut the cake.  Many people asked about Clover's "hair style".  They liked the way it was long in the front and kind of stuck up in the back.  They thought I had it cut that way! We enjoyed more music from family members inside the loft.  Uncle Sean played guitar for my Aunt Barbara, my cousin played his keyboard a bit and my dad played on of the songs he wrote.  Clover loves to watch live music.

We were one of the first people to leave, but we got back to the hotel pretty late and we played with Clover a bit before putting her to bed.  The next day we took her to Caribou Coffee. Our first visit to one.  It wasn't really baby friendly as far as space to put a baby seat, but we made do and when I finished my hot coffee, she sat in my lap and we people watched.  The coffee was very good and so was my cranberry orange scone.

When we got back to the hotel, we packed up and checked out.  We met my Aunt Barbara and cousin Justin and his new wife, Triona for brunch at Brick Tops.  This was a probably the nicest restaurant that Clover has been to so far.  This was also the first time she sat in a regular high chair.  She did have a few moments of tiredness from keeping her balance and her head would fall forward. After we ate, we held her in our laps.  We had a great time at brunch and then headed back to Alabama.  I sat in the back seat with Clover while Johnny drove.  We had fun listening to music and when there was a good beat, Clover would bounce to the music.  She slept some, but not for long. When we got home, we played some more and she went to bed and slept for 12 hours.